Regan’s New Year’s resolution is to exercise more. Today, she plans to run 1.5 miles on the track around her school’s football field. If each lap around the track is 0.25 miles, how many laps should she run?
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
To determine how many laps Regan should run, we need to divide the total distance she plans to run by the distance of one lap.
Step-by-step Calculation:
- Total distance Regan wants to run: 1.5 miles
- Distance per lap: 0.25 miles
Now, divide the total distance by the lap distance:1.5 miles0.25 miles per lap=6 laps\frac{1.5 \text{ miles}}{0.25 \text{ miles per lap}} = 6 \text{ laps}0.25 miles per lap1.5 miles=6 laps
Correct Answer: 6 laps
Explanation
To solve this problem, we start by identifying what the question is asking. Regan plans to run a total of 1.5 miles, and each lap around her school’s track covers a distance of 0.25 miles. We need to find out how many of those 0.25-mile laps she must complete in order to reach her 1.5-mile goal.
This is a simple division problem where you divide the total desired distance by the distance of one lap. When you divide 1.5 by 0.25, you are essentially asking: how many times does 0.25 go into 1.5?
To do this mentally or on paper, you can consider converting the division into a fraction:1.50.25=32÷14\frac{1.5}{0.25} = \frac{3}{2} \div \frac{1}{4}0.251.5=23÷41
When dividing fractions, you multiply the first by the reciprocal of the second:32×41=122=6\frac{3}{2} \times \frac{4}{1} = \frac{12}{2} = 623×14=212=6
This tells us that Regan must complete 6 laps to cover 1.5 miles.
Another way to think about it is by adding 0.25 repeatedly until you reach 1.5:
- 0.25 × 1 = 0.25
- 0.25 × 2 = 0.5
- 0.25 × 3 = 0.75
- 0.25 × 4 = 1.0
- 0.25 × 5 = 1.25
- 0.25 × 6 = 1.5
This confirms that 6 laps equals 1.5 miles. Therefore, Regan needs to run 6 laps to meet her exercise goal.
